Challenge Over UK Bulk Hacking Powers Taken To European Court of Human Rights (vice.com) 33
Joseph Cox, reporting for Motherboard: On Friday, activist group Privacy International and five internet and communications providers lodged an application before the European Court of Human Rights to challenge the UK's use of bulk hacking powers abroad. "The European Court of Human Rights has a strong track record of ensuring that intelligence agencies act in compliance with human rights law. We call on the Court to hold GCHQ accountable for its unlawful bulk hacking practices," Scarlet Kim, legal officer at Privacy International, said in a statement. The application has been made with UK-based non-profit GreenNet, the Chaos Computer Club from Germany, Jibonet from South Korea, US internet service provider May First, and communications provider Rise Up. In 2014, Privacy International filed a complaint over the country's bulk hacking powers with the UK's Investigatory Powers Tribunal, a court which determines if public authorities have unlawfully used covert techniques. In February of this year, the IPT concluded that GCHQ's hacking was legal under the UK's Intelligence Service Act 1994. Privacy International is now challenging whether the UK's interpretation of the Intelligence Service Act for using bulk hacking powers complies with the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).
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Re:But Brexit? (Score:5, Insightful)
The European Convention on Human Rights and its associated court aren't EU institutions, so Brexit won't directly affect them. However, all EU member states are required to be signatories of the ECHR, so Brexit does mean that the UK could at some future point do things like withdrawing from the ECHR and repealing the Human Rights Act (which is the associated national law), while such actions are not permitted as long as the UK remains a member of the EU.
(Just to confuse the issue, there is also a separate Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which would typically be enforced in the European Court of Justice, which is one branch of the Court of Justice of the European Union. At least one other high profile case regarding the British government's surveillance powers, brought by two serving MPs no less, recently followed that path rather than relying on the ECHR. And to think, some people argue that European politics is overcomplicated...)
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Even that wouldn't necessarily disentangle them from this matter since the allegation is bulk hacking outside of the UK.
Re:But Brexit? (Score:4, Informative)
To make the story even more complicated: the uk has opted out of the charter of fundamental rights: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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And when did we get a referendum on whether we wanted 'fundamental rights'? Honestly the Poles and the Brits (I am one) are stupid enough to vote against having rights. Kind of like stabbing yourself in the face just in case you're a terrorist.
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Does the EU court have any say?
Not really... The UK is a sovereign nation, if they feel that this is needed for national security, nothing a court says in another land is going to change anything...
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You utterly fail at the reading comprehension thing, don't you?
That's ok, you failed at the reality comprehension thing...
What is the court going to do about it? Go to war with the UK? The 5th largest economy and military in the world?
Why do you think Japan still hunts whales? Because no one can actually do anything about it to stop them... Because they are Japan... If it was New Zealand doing it, then they could be stopped...
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It's OK. Bow out gracefully. You don't seem to understand this, which is fine.
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Yea, you're a moron, go back to your weed and stay out of adult conversations...
Every single comment I've seen from you has been completely stupid, you are an idiot, you probably come from a whole family of idiots.
You frankly have nothing useful to say.
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The UK gained amazing and total insight into Irish fundraising and resulting hardware shipments from the US east coast by bulk collecting every call to and from the USA to Ireland and the wider UK.
Any needed help from the telco sector was a given when setting up a new network, been granted a telco role.
Police powers might
in other news (Score:5, Funny)
UK to hold referendum on exiting the Human race. Being Human is just not that popular in majority of the world govts.
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Islam and human rights are incompatible.
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Most religions are about the rights of the God(s), not about the rights of the mankind, let alone individuals. Our collective sleep is interrupted only by hanging on the rope that is suspended over the pit of annihilation.
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So is Christianity. And Judaism. Somehow Christians and Jews managed to integrate into our society though.
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Somehow Christians and Jews managed to *create* our society. The society as you know it didn't appear from thin air. This tells us a lot about Christianity and Judaism and their vision of tolerance.
Errr, not really. societies tend to stagnate when religions get a hold of the reins. European society pretty much spun it's wheels for several hundred years until the church started to lose its grasp on every day life. Once the reformation occurred in the Catholic church, European society began it's build up to the industrial revolution.
So yeah, Christianity may have been the religion of choice (pretty much mandatory if you wanted to be anyone back in early European society) but the societies it was in c
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If you had said fundamental Islam, I'd agree with you. I'd also have to mention that fundamental Christianity, Judaism - you name it - are also just as incompatible with human rights. Moderate forms recognise this and so focus on the internal relationship between believer and their god or gods, instead of trying to reshape society in the image of their religion.
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Ignore it, and it'll go away. That's always worked out so well...